Early voting began today, and so election-related attacks
heightened. At least 17 Iraqis were killed and 82 more were wounded in
poll violence across the country. Those who cannot vote on Sunday were
encouraged to take advantage of today’s special
polling. They include about 850,000
security personnel, prisoners and hospital patients.

Although there is no official documentation, health workers
in Fallujah have observed an
increase in birth defects, notably heart ailments, since the end of fighting
between U.S. forces and Sunni gunmen six years ago. A neighborhood where
fighting was intense seems to be the focal point of the defects. Some believe
the Iraqi government is keeping the increase quiet so as to not embarrass U.S.
forces.

The Ninewa province electoral commission accused the army of delaying
early voting in Mosul. Also, group of federal police was said
to have arrived from Baghdad to interrupt polling south of Mosul in Wadi
Hajar and to urge voters to select P.M. Maliki if they do vote.

In Anbar province, thousands of Iraqi security personnel
hoping to vote in today’s early election claim
their names were left off the rolls or attached to polling stations hundreds of
miles away. Many were allowed to vote provisionally to avoid Sunni accusations
of vote rigging. A curfew was lifted.

In the Kurdish Autonomous Region, voters will be permitted to drive to polling
stations; however, they cannot travel between cities.

The head of the Iraqiya voting bloc called on the Diwaniya
province electoral commission to resist any pressure to rig votes.